DOD Vows to Improve Disastrous Accounting Systems

Following a scathing report by the Center for Public integrity, which revealed that the Department of Defense lacks any mechanism to shows how the billions in taxpayer dollars are spent, the agency pledged to clean up its accounting practices by 2017.

Toward that end, the DOD, which has an annual budget of $670 billion, said it would funnel roughly $300 million annually to help better organize its financial ledgers.

The DOD has already spent $6 billion trying to establish a new financial system. However that project, which will not be read for another three years, has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said his department may need another $1 billion to straighten the accounting systems.